


I've got you (but you should probably still be worried)

by draagonfly



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Gen, M/M, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-20 14:29:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8252503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draagonfly/pseuds/draagonfly
Summary: Neil needs to replace his damn shoes once in a while





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to have more to it but -shrugs-  
> I won't pretend there's a point to this, because there's really not...I just couldn't the thought out of my head so here it is.  
> (not-beta'd, I typed this up in under an hour, so apologies for any glaring mistakes or inconsistencies)

Cigarette smoke tasted different coming from Andrew’s mouth. Neil wasn’t a smoker, not really – he usually preferred the smell over the burn in his lungs, but since he had met Andrew he had been smoking, really smoking, a lot more. Times like this especially, when Andrew allowed him to share (the cigarette, or just the smoke), he thought he didn’t mind picking up one more bad habit. He was surprised every time Andrew allowed him in his space like this, in a way no one else ever was unless they were being threatened with one of Andrew’s knives. Neil had been ‘close’ enough with him over the past year that it should’ve been a somewhat normal occurrence by now, but nothing with Andrew was ever normal, least of all something as intimate as shotgunning a cigarette on the roof of Fox Tower.

Neil was so distracted by the trails of smoke escaping their lips, by the softness of Andrew’s lips themselves when they briefly touched that he didn’t notice he had been swinging his legs again – a habit left over from Before the Foxes – until it was too late.

He had been meaning to replace his sneakers for months now. Before, he never bothered because new shoes stuck out more in a crowd than old ones, but by now they had been through at least a few years of daily runs and training; it was only a matter of time before they fell apart. Maybe it was that: old shoes and bad timing, or maybe he just hadn’t tied them as tight as he should have after practice. Either way he felt his right shoe start to slip off his foot and looked down just in time to see it start its descent to the grassy hill below. Instinctively, he reached out to grab it, fingertips barely grazing the worn leather –

“Ack-,” He was suddenly jerked backwards by a firm tug against his neck, right over his windpipe; Andrew had grabbed a hold of his t-shirt and was pulling him back. Taken by surprise, both by the lost shoe and by Andrew’s sudden pull, he gave no resistance and almost fell backwards onto the roof behind them, stopped again by the grip on his collar. His heartbeat picked up for more reasons than nearly falling off a roof. When he was done being shocked, his brain caught up to recognize two important facts:

  1. His shoe had made it down the four stories from the roof to the grass below and was lying a few yards away from the wall; Neil would have to go get it later. And,
  2. Andrew was still holding onto his t-shirt.



Neil decided to address the less daunting of the two first. “My shoe fell off.”

Andrew stared blankly at Neil, clearly unimpressed by his obvious comment, and honestly Neil wasn’t too proud of that one either. He should’ve saved the shoe thing for last. (To be fair, Andrew still hadn’t let go of him and it was a little distracting, and maybe a little restricting on his oxygen supply.)

“Really,” Andrew was slowly loosening his grip on Neil’s t-shirt as he spoke, “and here I thought you had finally had enough of being a waste of space and decided to throw yourself off the roof.” There wasn’t nearly as much bite in his words as there could’ve been despite the deceptively cold look in his eyes, so Neil knew he wasn’t as annoyed as he seemed.

“You wouldn’t have let me fall either way.” Neil’s eyes flicked back in the direction of Andrew’s arm at his back and Andrew finally released him, only to immediately squeeze the back of his neck like he did when Neil was freaking out over one thing or another. Neil wasn’t freaking out, but it felt nice anyway.

“Don’t be so sure.” _I’m not your answer and you aren’t mine._

And then the warmth on his skin was gone, and his heartbeat gradually slowed down to a normal speed. Andrew lit another cigarette, having discarded the previous one in his haste to ‘rescue’ Neil. Neil knew better than to think he would appreciate a thank you (thank you for saving me again, thank you for risking yourself to pull me back even though you’re more scared of falling than I am, thank you for caring whether I live or die), so he said nothing and sat back to watch the clouds of Andrew’s smoke against the darkening sky.


End file.
